Muddy York Rugby Football Club player Danny Perez (standing) and his partner Jonathan Buckley cuddle on the balcony of their apartment in Toronto, Canada. Perez is one of Muddy York RFC’s best players.

July 4, 2016

Muddy York Rugby Football Club player Danny Perez (standing) and his partner Jonathan Buckley cuddle on the balcony of their apartment in Toronto, Canada. Perez is one of Muddy York RFC’s best players.

Muddy York Rugby Football Club head coach and player Eric DeMarbre prepares the team’s lineup for the Bingham Cup opener, as he rides the bus with his players to the Ted Rhodes Park in Nashville, Tennessee. The Bingham Cup is often labelled as the LGBTQ Rugby World Cup. DeMarbre has coached Muddy York RFC since 2013, and has played for the club since 2009.

May 27, 2016

Muddy York Rugby Football Club head coach and player Eric DeMarbre prepares the team’s lineup for the Bingham Cup opener, as he rides the bus with his players to the Ted Rhodes Park in Nashville, Tennessee. The Bingham Cup is often labelled as the LGBTQ Rugby World Cup. DeMarbre has coached Muddy York RFC since 2013, and has played for the club since 2009.

Muddy York RFC’s captain Jimmy Karttunen (left) and teammate Carlo Vitelli (right) walk with drag queen Demanda Tension, along Church Street in Toronto’s gay village. They are heading to the opening ceremony of the Beaver Bowl, an annual tournament hosted by Muddy York featuring both gay and non-gay teams.

September 2, 2016

Muddy York RFC’s captain Jimmy Karttunen (left) and teammate Carlo Vitelli (right) walk with drag queen Demanda Tension, along Church Street in Toronto’s gay village. They are heading to the opening ceremony of the Beaver Bowl, an annual tournament hosted by Muddy York featuring both gay and non-gay teams.

Muddy York Rugby Football Club player Andrew Hsueh films an emotional moment between the team’s president, John Jeffery, and director of recruitment Ian Gibb, during the awards ceremony at the team’s end-of-season banquet, in Toronto, Canada.

November 26, 2016

Muddy York Rugby Football Club player Andrew Hsueh films an emotional moment between the team’s president, John Jeffery, and director of recruitment Ian Gibb, during the awards ceremony at the team’s end-of-season banquet, in Toronto, Canada.

The New York Gotham Knights players celebrate their Bingham Plate win over the London King’s Cross Steelers, at the Ted Rhodes Park, in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Muddy York RFC looks to the Gotham Knights as a true model in terms of player development, growth and inclusiveness.

May 29, 2016

The New York Gotham Knights players celebrate their Bingham Plate win over the London King’s Cross Steelers, at the Ted Rhodes Park, in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Muddy York RFC looks to the Gotham Knights as a true model in terms of player development, growth and inclusiveness.

Muddy York Rugby Football Club's players Carlo Vitelli (right) and David Cameron-Donnachie, smoke outside the Phoenix

Boys Will Be Boys

Sports, first prize stories

September 4, 2016

Muddy York Rugby Football Club's players Carlo Vitelli (right) and David Cameron-Donnachie, smoke outside the Phoenix club in Toronto.

Muddy York Rugby Football Club, established in 2003, is the first gay-friendly rugby team in Toronto, Canada. It was set up to resist the idea that gay men were not suitable for a heavily masculine sport like rugby, and to counter the stereotypes surrounding gay athletes. Canada is now host to three gay-oriented teams, after the Montreal Armada joined the Ottawa Wolves and Muddy York. A fourth, the Vancouver Rogues, dissolved after players felt they had brought sufficient awareness to issues of inclusion, and now play on mixed teams. Muddy York RFC competes against mainstream teams in the Toronto Rugby Union, and travels to play against other gay teams.

About the photographer

Giovanni Capriotti

After finishing high school he moved to Amsterdam and London, attracted by the vibrant and creative 90's. Passion for photography has always been part of his life, although at the beginning he could not afford to buy a decent camera and instead was experimenting with polaroids and vintage models, such as the old Yashica that his granny found at the pension where she used to work.

After a few months in the UK, he enrolled in a photography BFA at LCC, which helped him to organize everything he had learned as a self-taught photographer. Newly graduated, the mandatory national service called him back to his native Italy. After one year spent serving his country and two more on the road in Europe, he got a job with a major airline, which drastically increased his chances to travel worldwide. He eventually fell in love with documentary photography and over a decade of voyaging, he was able to produce a body of work covering several topics.

Currently Giovanni, also a graduate of the Loyalist College Photojournalism Program (Dean's List), lives between Toronto and Montreal with his wife and daughter. His independent work explores multiple issues across North America and the world, focusing on unique and intimate stories that often go unnoticed. Giovanni's clients list and publications include: United Nations High Commissioner Refugees (UNHCR), Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, MacLean's Magazine, Canadian Press, Montreal Gazette & Postmedia Network newspapers such as National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Vancouver Sun, Edmonton Journal, The Province and Saskatoon StarPhoenix, former Sun Media/QMI Agency, Manitoulin Expositor, Manitoulin Recorder, Metro Rome and NGOs the likes of Ontario HIV Treatment Network and Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network.